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Journal of Public Health Advance Access published online on February 27, 2007
Journal of Public Health, doi:10.1093/pubmed/fdm007
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© The Author 2007, Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of Faculty of Public Health. All rights reserved

Does the English Breast Screening Programme's information leaflet improve women's knowledge about mammography screening? A before and after questionnaire survey


Premila Webster, Honorary Senior Lecturer

Department of Public Health, University of Oxford, Old Rd, Headington, Oxford OX3 7LF, UK


Address correspondence to Premila Webster, E-mail: premila.webster{at}dphpc.ox.ac.uk

Objectives To explore whether the English Breast Screening Programme's leaflet improved women's knowledge of breast cancer screening.

Design Before and after postal questionnaire survey.

Participants A random sample of 100 women aged between 49 and 64 years registered with GPs in Oxfordshire on whom data from a prospective, questionnaire survey was available on knowledge and perception of breast cancer screening.

Results Women's knowledge of lifetime risk had improved significantly (p < 0.0001) after the leaflet; however, the ‘qualitative’ interpretation of this numeric risk varied. The proportion of women who said the purpose of screening was to enable simpler treatments had increased from 34 to 45% (p = 0.05). Thirty-two per cent who had previously responded that screening prevented breast cancer now responded correctly; 20% who responded correctly before the leaflet now responded incorrectly. None of the women thought that all screen-detected cancers could be cured; 95% of the women said they were very likely to attend breast screening if invited, and the rest said they were ‘fairly likely’ to attend. Additional information women wanted included: what causes breast cancer; percentage rates for survival with and without mammograms; and lifestyle advice on how to avoid breast cancer.

Conclusions Although the leaflet had improved women's knowledge of the purpose of screening in some areas, some simple messages in the leaflet had not been understood by all women.

Keywords: Breast cancer screening, information leaflets, mammography


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